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Jlngcfo  con  cancsftro  6t  fiori    iScato  jlngcCico 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


JUL  3  0 


or..' 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


Library  of  the  Theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON  •       NEW  JERSEY 


Presented  by 
George  Gray  Toole 


BV317.N43  S88  1906 

Sutherland,  Allan,  b. 

Nearer  my  God  to  Thee 

origin 

and  its  romance  / 


1871. 
:  its 


T"- 


jfamoufli  ||pmn£(  of  tfje  laiorlb  ^eries( 


C0  CJtte 

/ra  ORIGIN  AND  ITS 
ROMANCE 

BY 

ALLAN  SUTHERLAND 


Mn^tvatth 


LIBRARY  0 


JUL 


THEOLOGIC 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


P(INCET( 


0 


Copyright,  1905 
By  The  Butterick   Publishing  Co.,  Ltd. 

Copyright,  1906 
Br  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company 


fearer,  mp  <^ob,  to  Cftee, 

i^earer  to  Cfjee ! 
€*en  tfjousfj  it  be  a  crosfsf 

Cfjat  raisetf)  me ; 
^till  all  mj>  s;ons  gfjall  be, 
i^earer,  mp  (§ob,  to  ^fjee, 

jSearet  tot!i:fjee! 

Cftoust)  like  tie  hjanberer, 
tE^be  s;un  gone  boton, 

3iarfenes(2(  be  ober  me, 
jUp  resit  a  sitone ; 

get  in  mp  breams  3  *b  be 

i^earer,  mp  <^ob,  to  l^fjee, 
i?earer  toCfjee! 

Cbere  let  tfje  toaj>  appear, 
^tep£f  unto  Jleaben ; 

^U  tbat  Cfjou  s(enb*s(t  to  me 
in  mercp  siben : 

Angels  to  beckon  me 

i^earer,  mp  <§ob,  to  Cftee, 
iSearer  to  Ejee ! 

Cf)en,  toitfj  mp  toafeins  tbousfttss 
Jlirigbt  bjitb  tirbp  praisfe, 

([^ut  of  mj>  sitonp  grief £{ 
JlietbelSllraiaie; 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

^0  hp  mj>  tooesf  to  ht 
Jtearer,  mp  ^ob,  to  Wbtt, 
Jtearer  to  Wbtt  I 

0x  it  on  jopf ul  ttJins 

Cleaning  tfje  s;fep, 
^un,  moon,  anb  £{tar£J  forgot, 

Zftjtoarbs!  3  tip, 
^till  all  mj>  2(ons  gfjall  be, 
fearer,  mp  <§ob,  to  tlTfjee, 

Jtearet:  to  tE^Jee ! 


C^lji-   UVi!£pt    NE.vi.flr4 


ipS~ 


NEARER,  MY  GOD,  TO  THEE 

LIZA  and  Sarah  Flower 
were  gifted  English  sis- 
ters, whose  early  lives 
began  and  ended  between 
the  opening  and  the  close 
of  the  first  half  of  the  last  century ;  and 
yet  in  that  brief  period  both  left  their 
impress  on  their  generation;  and  the 
younger,  Sarah,  achieved  undying 
fame  by  composing  the  beautiful  hymn, 
"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee." 

The  meeting  and  courtship  of  their 
parents  were  romantic.  Benjamin 
Flower  was  a  bright  young  fellow 
whose  business  frequently  called  him 
to  France,  and  he  became  early  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. Afterward  he  became  the  Editor 
of  the  Cambridge  Intelligencer,  and 
for  defending  in  its  columns  the  French 
Revolution,  and  for  real  or  imaginary 
reflections  on  the  English  constitution, 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

he  was  brought  to  trial  in  1799,  and 
was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  and  to  spend 
six  months  in  the  famous  or  infamous 
Newgate  Prison. 

During  his  imprisonment  Miss  Ehza 
Gould,  an  enthusiastic  young  woman 
of  culture,  whose  soul  was  fired  with 
indignation  at  the  injustice  of  his  pun- 
ishment, called  upon  him  to  express 
sympathy.  They  proved  to  be  con- 
genial spirits;  the  strangers  became 
friends,  the  friends  lovers,  and  soon 
after  his  release  they  were  married. 
Two  daughters  were  born  to  them,  and 
in  1810  the  mother,  never  strong,  went 
to  her  reward.  The  training  and  edu- 
cation of  the  children  devolved  upon 
the  father,  and  right  nobly  did  he  meet 
this  added  responsibility.  Both  girls 
were  unusually  talented  —  Eliza  as  a 
composer  of  music,  and  Sarah  as  a 
composer  of  verse. 

In  1834,  Sarah  married  William 
Bridges  Adams,  a  civil  engineer.     In 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

person  she  was  tall  and  remarkably 
beautiful,  and  her  manners  were  charm- 
ing. Believing  that  the  stage  might  be 
made  to  perform  an  important  service, 
in  connection  with  the  pulpit,  in  elevat- 
ing mankind,  she  essayed  to  act,  with 
the  approval  of  her  husband,  the  char- 
acter of  Lady  Macbeth.  Although 
she  met  with  considerable  success,  she 
soon  learned  that  the  demands  were  far 
too  severe  for  her  physical  powers,  so 
she  turned  her  attention  to  literature. 
She  wrote  a  number  of  poems  of  rare 
sweetness  and  power.  "  Nearer,  my 
God,  to  Thee,"  suggested  by  the  story 
of  Jacob's  vision  at  Bethel,  as  found 
in  Genesis  28 :  10-22,  was  first  pub- 
lished in  1841;  and  although  it  met 
with  some  favour,  it  was  not  until  1860 
that  Dr.  Lowell  Mason's  beautiful  and 
sympathetic  music  "  quickened  it  into 
glorious  Hfe "  and  gave  it  a  perma- 
nent abiding-place  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people.     In  the  great  Peace  Jubilee, 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

held  in  Boston  in  1872,  this  hymn  was 
sung  by  nearly  fifty  thousand  voices. 
Dr.  Mason,  then  in  his  eighty-first  year, 
was  present,  and  was  delighted  with 
the  matchless  melody.  He  died  the 
following  August. 

Mrs.  Adams  died  in  1848,  at  the  age 
of  forty-three,  two  years  after  the 
death  of  her  sister  Eliza,  who  died 
unmarried,  at  the  same  age. 

Many  and  interesting  are  the  stories 
told  in  connection  with  the  usefulness 
of  this  hymn,  which  has  been  an  inspira- 
tion wherever  the  Christian  religion  has 
gone.  It  is  a  special  favourite  of  Miss 
Helen  Gould,  whose  sweet  winsome- 
ness  and  noble  charity  have  made  her 
one  of  the  best  loved  women  of  our 
land. 

It  was  sung  at  the  great  Christian 
Endeavor  Convention  held  in  Phila- 
delphia in  December,  1900,  a  choir  of 
fifteen  hundred  trained  voices,  under 
the  magnetic  direction  of  H.  C.  Lin- 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

coin,  leading  the  vast  multitude.  At  its 
close  President  Eberman  said,  thought- 
fully, "  I  wonder  if  we  shall  ever  listen 
to  such  singing  on  earth  again!  " 

"  When  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
North  Atlantic  Squadron,"  writes 
Chaplain  Wright,  "  assembled  on  the 
quarter  deck  of  the  battleship  '  Massa- 
chusetts,' at  the  memorial  service  for 
the  gun's  crew  killed  in  the  eight-inch 
turret,  the  most  touching  incident  was 
the  singing,  softly  and  reverently,  of 
'  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee.'  It  had 
been  the  favourite  hymn  of  several  of 
the  dead  men,  and  the  last  one  they  had 
sung,  for  we  had  closed  the  service  with 
it  two  nights  before  the  disaster.  Dur- 
ing an  experience  of  nearly  twenty 
years  in  the  Navy  I  have  found  the 
songs  that  last  the  best  with  the  men 
are  such  as  '  Just  As  I  Am,'  *  Abide 
With  Me,'  '  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,' 
and  '  Sun  of  My  Soul.'  " 

"  I  have  heard,"  writes  Dr.  Floyd 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

Tomkins,  "  *  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee  ' 
sung  in  camp  with  a  brass  band,  and 
I  have  sung  it  alone  with  trembling 
voice  when  kneeling  by  the  bedside  of 
the  dying,  and  it  has  ever  the  same 
message  of  peace." 

The  Rev.  Millard  F.  Troxell,  D.D., 
relates  this  experience :  "  The  beau- 
tiful August  day  was  warm  with  sun- 
shine along  the  lower  levels,  but  the 
three  train-loads  of  tourists  found  the 
summit  of  Pike's  Peak  enveloped  in 
mist  and  cloud  too  heavy  to  peer 
through,  so  that  for  an  hour  or  more 
we  gathered  about  the  fire  of  the  block- 
house and  tried  to  become  better  ac- 
quainted. It  was  suggested  that  we 
sing  some  popular  melody.  A  voice 
bravely  began  one  of  the  many  senti- 
mental songs  of  the  day,  but  few  knew 
enough  of  it  to  join  in,  so  the  singer 
was  left  to  finish  it  alone.  Then  some 
one  began  to  sing  softly  *  Nearer,  my 
God,  to  Thee,'  and  before  the  second 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

line  was  ended  it  seemed  as  if  all  who 
had  been  strangers  now  felt  at  home; 
and,  for  the  time  being,  the  place 
seemed  like  a  very  Bethel.  It  seemed, 
too,  as  if  the  clouds  were  parted  and 
lifted  by  the  singing,  for  when  a  little 
time  had  quickly  passed,  some  one  ex- 
claimed, '  Oh,  there  's  the  sunshine ! ' 
and  out  we  rushed  to  find  that  the 
mists  were  rolled  away,  and  before  us 
stretched  the  most  wonderful  of  views." 
On  one  occasion  three  distinguished 
travellers  in  Palestine  heard  in  the  dis- 
tance faint  snatches  of  a  familiar  tune, 
and  were  deeply  touched,  on  drawing 
nearer,  to  find  a  group  of  Syrian  stu- 
dents reverently  singing,  in  Arabic, 
"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee."  One  of 
the  hearers,  in  relating  the  story,  said 
that  the  singing  of  the  hymn  by  these 
youthful  natives  moved  him  to  tears 
and  affected  him  more  deeply  than  any- 
thing of  the  kind  to  which  he  had  ever 
listened. 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

The  Rev.  G.  B.  F.  Hallock,  D.D., 
thus  writes  of  his  visit  to  Bethel  on 
March  12,  1902:  "As  we  stood  there, 
where  heaven  had  once  come  so  near  to 
earth,  I  am  sure  that  there  was  not  one 
in  all  our  large  party  who  did  not  share, 
in  some  degree,  in  that  ladder  vision 
which  Jacob  had;  and  you  will  not  be 
surprised  to  know  that  we  fell  into  the 
mood  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Flower  Adams' 
ever-precious  hymn,  and,  without  a 
word  of  suggestion,  sang  together,  with 
deepest  feeling,  '  Nearer,  my  God,  to 
Thee ! '  Who  can  say  that  Jacob's 
vision  did  not  become  ours  as  we  softly 
chanted  the  trustful,  prayerful  words ! 

"Is  it  not  a  sweet  immortality  for 
this  Christian  poetess  that  her  song 
should  thus  linger  about  the  Holy 
Land,  the  stories  of  which  were  so  dear 
to  her,  and  continue  to  interpret  the 
worshipful  thoughts  of  Christian  trav- 
ellers long  after  she  herself  ceased  to 
sing  on  earth?    We  do  not  wonder  that 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

eur  martyred  President  [McKinley] 
and  so  many  before  him  and  since,  loved 
and  do  love  this  beautiful  hymn.  We 
shall  ever  count  it  a  rare  privilege  that 
so  many  of  us  were  permitted  to  sing 
it  together  on  the  sacred  site  of  Bethel 
itself." 

A  pathetic  story  in  connection  with 
this  hymn  is  told  of  an  heroic  woman 
whose  train  was  caught  in  the  great 
Johnstown  flood  of  1889.  Hoj)elessly 
imprisoned  by  the  rising  waters,  and 
with  death  surely  approaching,  she 
breathed  a  prayer  to  her  Maker,  and 
then,  with  a  voice  of  marvellous  trust- 
fulness, began  singing  "  Nearer,  my 
God,  to  Thee,"  while  hundreds,  unable 
to  help  her,  listened  breathlessly.  Be- 
fore the  last  words  of  the  hymn  were 
reached  the  brave  voice  was  still  and 
the  singer  had  gone  to  be  with  "  those 
who  had  come  out  of  great  tribulation 
and  had  washed  their  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

Dr.  William  H.  Clagett,  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Texas 
Presbyterian  University,  kindly  con- 
tributes the  following:  "  On  a  New 
Year's  Day  the  late  Rev.  James  H. 
Brookes,  D.D.,  of  St.  Louis,  was  ear- 
nestly praying  for  a  deeper  work  of 
grace  in  his  own  heart,  and  during  his 
prayer  quoted  the  lines: 

"  '  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,  nearer  to  Thee, 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross  that  raiseth  me.' 

"As  he  uttered  the  words,  the  spirit 
of  God  brought  the  meaning  of  the 
last  line  to  his  mind  as  never  before; 
so  much  so,  indeed,  that  he  stopped  in 
his  praying  and  asked,  '  Do  I  so  deeply 
desire  a  greater  consecration  that  I  am 
willing  for  God  to  send  a  cross,  if  it  be 
necessary,  for  me  to  receive  it?' 

"  After  an  inner  struggle  of  some 
minutes  he  again  bowed  down,  and, 
with  a  full  sense  of  the  meaning  of 
the  words  he  uttered,  made  use  of  the 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

same  quotation  as  expressing  the  inner- 
most desire  of  his  heart. 

"  That  year  there  came  to  him  one 
of  the  greatest  sorrows  of  his  Hfe 
through  the  death  of  a  daughter,  a 
bright  and  beautiful  girl  just  about  to 
graduate  from  college;  but  he  after- 
wards testified  that  through  this  great 
loss  God  had  answered  his  prayer 
and  had  brought  him  into  closer  com- 
munion with  Him  than  he  had  ever 
been  before." 

Chaplain  Henry  C.  McCook,  who 
was  with  our  soldiers  in  Cuba,  says: 
"  It  would  seem  strange  that  such  a 
hymn  as  '  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee ' 
should  be  the  most  popular  and  appar- 
ently the  most  widely  known  among  all 
classes  of  soldiers.  Yet  it  is  so.  When 
conducting  services  as  Chaplain  in  the 
camps  and  hospitals  of  the  Fifth  Army 
Corps,  and  upon  ships  of  war  and  trans- 
ports, as  well  as  in  the  camps  of  the 
States,  I  found  that  when  this  hymn 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

was  announced  all  the  soldiers  took 
hearty  part  in  the  singing.  One  would 
hardly  think  that  the  high  spiritual  note 
touched  in  this  familiar  hymn,  which 
breathes  longings  for  a  nearer  spiritual 
communion  with  God,  even  at  the  cost 
of  human  sacrifice,  would  truly  voice 
the  sentiment  of  the  rough-and-ready, 
ofttime  coarse  and  profane  men  who 
joined  with  their  more  religious  com- 
rades in  singing.  Yet  such  was  the 
case.  It  was  the  favourite  hymn  at 
funerals,  a  fact  that  can  be  understood 
more  easily.  All  soldiers  are  more  or 
less  affected  by  the  sense  of  the  near 
presence  of  death.  The  loss  of  their 
comrades  is  indeed  '  a  cross  ' ;  and  in  the 
true  spirit  of  camaraderie  they  feel  a 
touch  of  woe  that  the  companions  of 
the  tent  and  of  the  march,  who  shared 
with  them  the  toils  and  perils  of  battle, 
have  passed  away." 

He  also  gives  this  interesting  descrip- 
tion of  the  closing  scene  on  the  battle- 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

field  of  Las  Guasimas,  June,  1898: 
"  Farther  on  lay  a  dead  Spaniard  with 
covered  face.  A  buzzard  flapped  from 
the  tree  above  him.  Bevond  was  the 
open-air  hospital,  where  were  two  more 
rigid  human  figures,  and  where  the 
wounded  lay.  That  night  there  was  a 
clear  sky,  a  quarter-moon,  and  an  en- 
veloping mist  of  stars,  but  little  sleep 
for  any,  and  restless,  battle-haunted 
sleep  for  all.  Next  morning  followed 
the  burial.  Captain  Capron  was  car- 
ried back  to  the  coast  and  buried  at 
Siboney.  The  other  heroes  were  placed 
side  by  side  in  one  broad  trench  with 
their  feet  to  the  east.  In  the  bottom 
of  the  grave  was  laid  a  layer  of  long, 
thick,  green  leaves  of  guinea  grass,  and 
over  the  brave  fellows  were  piled  plumes 
of  the  royal  palm  as  long  as  the  grave. 
At  the  head  of  the  trench  stood  Chap- 
lain Brown;  around  it  were  the  com- 
rades of  the  dead;  along  the  road 
struggled  a  band  of  patient,  ragged 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

Cubans;  and  approaching  from  San- 
tiago a  band  of  starving  women  and 
children  for  whom  the  soldiers  gave 
their  lives.  '  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,' 
sang  the  soldiers;  and  the  tragedy  of 
Las  Guasimas  was  done." 

This  noble  hymn  gained  additional 
popularity  through  the  tragic  death 
of  President  William  McKinley.  His 
last  intelligible  words,  spoken  just 
before  his  soul  took  its  flight,  were: 
"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,  e'en  though 
it  be  a  cross,  has  been  my  constant 
prayer."  His  prayer  was  answered.  It 
was  a  cross  —  one  of  the  greatest  that 
could  come  to  him  and  to  the  beloved 
nation  which  he  had  served  so  faith- 
fully —  that  led  him  through  a  martyr's 
suiFering  and  death  to  claim  a  martyr's 
reward,  that  of  being  ever  near  the 
blessed  Saviour.  In  a  difl*erent  way, 
the  prayers  of  his  countrymen  were  also 
answered,  for  although  his  life  was 
not  spared,  there  was  infused  into  the 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

hearts  of  all  a  profounder  reverence 
for  the  head  of  the  nation,  a  greater 
horror  of  assassination,  a  stronger  love 
for  our  country,  a  deeper  devotion  to 
our  political  institutions,  and  a  more 
abiding  faith  in  God. 

The  day  of  his  burial  at  Canton,  Sep- 
tember 19,  1901,  witnessed  the  most 
singular  and  unanimous  tributes  of  re- 
spect and  affection  ever  paid  to  the 
memory  of  a  human  being.  Seldom,  if 
ever,  has  a  common  sorrow  found  out- 
ward expression  in  so  many  lands  and  in 
so  many  ways;  and  never  was  there  so 
close  an  approach  to  church  and  inter- 
national unity.  Memorial  services  were 
held  in  innumerable  churches  in  our  own 
and  other  countries;  and  at  half -past 
three  o'clock,  through  arrangements 
previously  made,  all  the  material  ac- 
tivities of  the  country  ceased,  so  far  as 
possible,  for  five  minutes.  Trolley  cars 
were  motionless,  the  hum  of  machinery 
died  away,  horses  were  stopped,  not  a 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

telegraph  instrument  clicked,  and  the 
great  ocean  cable  no  longer  pulsed  its 
messages.  A  Sabbath  stillness  was 
over  all.  Everywhere,  as  clocks  and 
watches  indicated  the  hour,  men  stood 
with  uncovered  and  bowed  heads  asking 
God's  blessing  upon  the  stricken  widow 
and  upon  their  bereaved  country. 

Before  us  as  we  write  is  a  great  met- 
ropolitan newspaper  of  the  following 
day,  its  pages  full  of  graphic  descrip- 
tions of  the  funeral  service  at  Canton, 
where  the  vast  audience  stood  at  the 
close,  with  tear-dimmed  eyes,  while 
"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,"  was  being 
sung;  and  of  telegraphic  despatches 
from  the  leading  centres  of  the  world, 
in  almost  all  of  which  reference  is  made 
to  the  singing  of  this  hymn  in  connec- 
tion with  memorial  services. 

Two  of  the  despatches  are  of  special 
interest:  The  first,  from  New  York, 
dated  September  19,  is:  "The  250 
passengers  of  the  American  Hamburg- 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

American  liner '  Belgravia,'  from  Ham- 
burg, which  arrived  this  afternoon  at 
Hoboken,  as  the  clock  struck  3 :  30,  re- 
ceived the  sorrowful  intelligence  of  the 
President's  death  and  funeral  services. 
Instantly  every  one  stopped  and  stood 
for  five  minutes  with  uncovered  head. 
While  the  people  waited,  the  band 
on  the  steamer  '  Pennsylvania,'  lying 
alongside,  played  Chopin's  funeral 
march,  and  a  quartet  sang  '  Nearer, 
my  God,  to  Thee.'  " 

The  second  despatch  is  from  Kansas 
City,  Mo. :  "  Twenty-five  thousand  peo- 
ple in  the  great  auditorium  this  after- 
noon paid  loving  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  President  McKinley.  As  many 
more  were  turned  away.  A  chorus  of 
seven  hundred  voices  and  a  band  of  one 
hundred  pieces  furnished  the  music. 
The  entire  audience  joined  in  the 
singing  of  '  Lead,  Kindly  Light '  and 
'  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee.'  " 

In    Philadelphia,    the    Academy   of 


FAMOUS    HYMNS    OF    THE    WORLD 

Music  was  packed  to  its  utmost  capac- 
ity, and  this  hymn  was  sung  with  mar- 
vellous effect  by  the  standing,  weeping 
audience.  At  League  Island,  at  Girard 
College,  in  Catholic  and  Protestant 
churches,  in  Jewish  synagogues  and 
Christian  temples,  the  people  were 
drawn  together  by  a  great  heart  sorrow, 
and  gave  expression  to  it  by  singing  the 
hymn  which  so  appropriately  and  fit- 
tingly set  forth  their  feelings.  On  the 
still  autumn  air  the  beautiful  notes  of 
''  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee  "  rang  out 
with  singular  sweetness  and  distinct- 
ness from  the  chimes  of  the  belfry  of 
the  historic  Christ  Church  —  the  same 
bells  which  had  sounded  a  muffled  peal 
at  the  reception  of  the  news  of  the 
British  blockade  of  Boston;  which  had 
joyously  echoed  the  brave  full  tones  of 
the  Liberty  Bell  when  it  proclaimed 
its  story  of  liberty  to  the  world;  which 
had  summoned  Washington  to  worship 
when  he  was  our  first  President;   and 


NEARER,    MY    GOD,    TO    THEE 

which  had  rung  out  their  tribute  of  love 
and  sorrow  when  Washington,  Lincoln, 
and  Garfield  passed  on  to  join  the  im- 
mortals—  these  chimes  now  made  the 
air  melodious  with  the  tender  notes  of 
the  deathless  hymn;  and  men,  stopping 
to  listen,  went  on  their  way  with  up- 
lifted looks,  and  with  a  fuller,  deeper 
understanding  of  the  inner  spiritual 
teachings  of  the  solemn  words. 

In  every  civilised  country  memorial 
services  were  held,  the  most  interesting, 
perhaps,  being  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
by  order  of  the  King.  The  burial  ser- 
vice was  read  with  touching  simplicity 
in  the  presence  of  royalty,  the  full  dip- 
lomatic corps,  distinguished  men  and 
women,  and  a  vast  concourse  of  sor- 
rowing people.  Here,  as  elsewhere, 
the  greatest  interest  centred  about  the 
singing  of  the  hymn  which  was  in  the 
heart  and  on  the  lips  of  our  heroic 
President  as  he  went  to  meet  his  God. 


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